Railway freight-car



(NoiModeL) x. GAVERNO&1 w. E. FOWLER.

RAILWAY FREIGHT GAR.

Patented May 30, 1

111v Eniur 5 Wit-155555 @kflf@ UNrrsD STATES XENOPHONOAVERNO AND WILLIAM E. FOVV'LFR, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

PATENT OFFICE.

RAILWAY FREIGHT-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 498,234, dated May 30, 1893.

Application filed June 24, 1892. Serial No. 437,878- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, XENOPHON CAVERNO and WILLIAM E. FOWLER, citizens of the United States, residing in Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway Freight-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in railway freight cars of the type known as coal cars; and the object of our improvement is to bind together the opposite coal sides, automatically, at or near their upper edges, when the end-gate is raised to position to retain the load, so that the coal sides cannot be sprung outward by the pressure of the load against them. We attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichv Figure 1 is a vertical cross section of a coal car body; Fig. 2 a plan of one end of a coal car body; Fig. 3 a side elevation of one end of a coal car body with the nearest coal side removed. Fig. 4 is a detail of the upper. left hand corner of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 a plan of Fig. 4. The hinged end-gate is shown in a vertical position, or position to retain the load, in Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5. In Fig. 3 it is shown swung downward and resting on the floor.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The ordinary construction of this type of car is as follows: The coal sides or side boards 0. O. are bolted to the standards E E. The lower ends of the standards are extended downward over the side sills and are fastened to the side sills by means of U bolts or otherwise. The end-gate A is hinged to the floor by means of eye bolts passing through it and engaging with eye bolts passing through the sills and floor. When the car is loaded with lumber, or similar material, the end-gate lies on the floor, as in Fig. 3, and is covered by the load. When the car is to be loaded with coal, or similar material, the end-gate is raised to an upright position where it rests against the cleats D D, attached to the coal sides. It will be seen that the coal sides are held in an upright position simply by the lower ends of the standards being fastened to the side sill. The leverage being so short com the one great objection to this class of cars.

Our improvement is as follows: A metal strap or rod M is bolted to the inner face of the end-gate near its upper edge; each end of this strap or rod is turned backward forming the hooks N N, which extend back across the end of the end-gate, the upper corners of the end-gate being cut away to receive them. To each coal side, opposite the end of the endgate when it is resting against the cleat, is fastened the metal strap or loop K K. These straps extend up the outer-face of the coal side; are turned at right angles over the upper edge of the coal sides and extend inward X so far that, when they are turned down, the

hook or loop, so formed, shall engage with the hooks N. N, when the end-gate is raised. The straps K K are returned below this loop and bolted to the inner face of the coal side the bolt passing through the part of the strap on the outer face. The upper corners of the end-gate are cut away to clear this loop so that the end-gate rests against the cleats, as before. When the end-gate is raised the hooks N N engage, automatically, with the loops K K, thus binding the opposite coal sides together, so that they cannot be sprung outward by the pressure of the load. When the end-gate is lowered the hooks readily disengage the slight taper given them, and the offset to the loops, facilitating this as well as the engagement when the end-gate is raised. The action is entirely automatic, no more attention being required than where the improvement is not used. The strap M, being subjected merely to a tensile stress, need not be as heavy as the hooks N N. The form shown in the drawings, in which the strap is doubled on itself, at each end, the hooks being formed of this double part, gives this result very effectively and simply.

We would here call attention to the fact that our device is a tie for the coal sides and not in any sense a lock for the end-gate; that it is especially designed for use with inward swinging end-gates where no device is needed to fasten up the end-gate, the load itself performing that function; that the motion of the end-gate isin no way impeded by it. We would explain that the word coal-cars, as used in this specification, refers to a type of cars and does not refer to class of service or character of load; that the word coal-side is synonymous with side board, and is likewise independent of class of service or character of load.

We are aware that previous to our invention, cars of this type have been constructed having a loose hook attached to the coal side to be slipped by hand into an eye on the end gate, after the end-gate is raised to the cleat, thus binding together the opposite coal sides; but we are not aware of any device, for this purpose, which acts automatically or forms a continuous metallic tie between the coal sides.

We are aware that devices have been used on the outward swinging end-gates of road wagons which tie the side boards together antomatically when the end-gate .is raised, but we are not aware that any such device has ever been invented which is so formed and placed as to be effective when applied to inward swinging end-gates.

We therefore do not claim the method of binding together the coal sides automatically by means of a device attached to the hinged end-gate except, first, when a continuous metallic tie is formed between the coal sides, or second, when the device is so formed and placed as to be effective in combination with an inward swinging end-gate.

What we do claim as our invention, and 1 desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In railway freight cars, having coal-sides and inward swinging end-gates, a loop or hook on the inner face of each coal side, in combination with a suitable device on the inward swinging end-gate with which each of said loops or hooks engages automatically when the end-gate is raised, thus binding the opposite coal sides together.

2. In railway freight cars having coal sides and inward swinging end-gates the metal hooks N and N the outer end of each lying between the end of the end gate and the adjacent coal side, in combination with the loops K and K or some other suitable device on the inner face of the coal side with which they engage automatically, when the end-gate is raised, thus binding the opposite coal sides together.

3. In railway freight cars having coal-sides and inward swinging end-gates, a metal rod or strap attached to the end-gate, each of its ends being formed into or attached to a metal hook or loop, which engages with a suitable device on the inner face of the adjacent coal-side, when the end-gate is raised, thus binding together the opposite coal-sides so that they cannot be sprung outward by the pressure of the load against them; the tie rod and not the endgate itself being in tension when the load presses against the coal sides.

XENOPHON (JAVERNO. WILLIAM E. FOWLER. \Vitnesses:

D. J. OAHILL, D. C. DE GRAFF. 

